'FlashForward' Showrunner Exits For Features

FlashForward, ABC’s heir apparent to Lost which just began its final season, is in turmoil again. It was already on its 2nd showrunner after Marc Guggenheim exited in October. Since then, I’ve been receiving reports of a lot of “infighting” and “backbiting” inside the show. Now FlashForward showrunner David Goyer has left with 5 episodes still to shoot. Of course, Goyer’s feature career is really heating up, since he co-wrote Batman Begins, and penned the story for The Dark Knight, and is now writing the third Batman installment with Chris Nolan’s brother Jonah. (“As my feature projects have started ramping up again, I felt I was being pulled in too many directions,” Goyer said in a statement. “I’m proud of the show and excited about the relaunch. It’s in great hands.”) But whose hands? No word on the ID of FlashForward‘s 3rd showrunner. After its well-hyped fall debut, ABC first planned to bring back FlashForward last month, and then delayed the re-rollout until March 18th to retool. Something drastic needed to be done because ratings for the sci-fi drama based on the novel by Robert Sawyer were hot out of the gate — and then they were not. FlashForward dropped from 12+ million viewers down to half that. The bright spot is that DVR usage for the show is big. ABC says Goyer will remain “involved” as the remaining episodes of the 23-episode order are finished. But, after spending big on development last season and giving ABC a hit Wednesday comedy night, entertainment boss Steve McPherson now really needs to have a breakout hour-long drama to boast about. The question still remains whether that’s FlashForward.

30 Comments

FlashForward has been the major disappointment this year. It had so much potential that was just flushed down the toilet.

IrrationaliTV • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

As a diehard fan of Lost (and many genre shows), I predict that FlashForward will never succeed until or unless they decide to make the show about the characters rather than the mystery. It’s probably too late. They lost me early because I had no reason to care about the mystery because they gave me no reason to care about the characters that it was affecting. They came at it like a feature film where no character development is expected. That doesn’t work for a TV show. Better luck next time, ABC.

Dwigt • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

David S. Goyer’s contribution to the Batman franchise mustn’t be overstated. He must be good at finding decent story ideas and having the comics sensibility but the Nolan brothers have tight control over the actual screenplay, as they’re used to write together without anybody else (The Prestige and Inception are credited solely to the two of them). You also have to see what Goyer does on his own. He directed “Blade: Trinity” and one of the most laughable pictures of 2009, “The Unborn”, featuring Gary Oldman as a Rabbi.

Besides, he knew about the schedule for the third movie quite in advance. So, I think it’s all about leaving a troubled show with a good official reason.

You Cannot Be Serious! • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

Nikki,

You’ve got to be kidding. He did not leave of his own volition, he was pushed.

This show was always a gimmick in search of a story. It’s finally caught up to its creators.

As many other feature writers will attest who’ve crashed on burned on the shores of the small screen, TV ain’t so easy.

Stay in features where it’s easy, David.

heirapparent?!? • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

FF was never LOST’s heir apparent, despite what ABC hoped. Even at its best ratings, FF never came NEAR where Lost was in its first season, let alone Lost’s SIXTH. Lost preemed to a 6.6 in season 1 and preemed to a 5.5 is season 6. A remarkable run. FF was barely in the high 3’s when it was “hot”. It finished its run in the low 2s. With DVRs factored in generously, FF may hit a 3 while season 6 of lost will be pushing a 7.

ABC needs to look elsewhere for the future of its dramas.

TheHoff • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

so Jonah Nolan and David Goyer are actually writing a third Batman now? Interesting…

brian • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

its not. the thing about serialized dramas such as this is once people tune out, they tune out for good. and with the show as disjointed and bland as it is now, with good quality content rare, the question only remains whether ABS will cancel it as they should (based on its ratings) or let it fester for another season.

Nobody • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

WATCH THIS SPACE

David Goyer is currently set to write (or has already written) a number of major features with announcements due literally any day, PLUS he is lined up to direct one of these too.

Good for David, whose talent is still far too underrated and is almost as responsible as Avi Arad for the massive superhero film success going on right now.

Hopefully this will be the last neccessary step to allow the studios to maximize the use of his abilities.

Hmm • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

Gee – hello David or his publicist or agent. How nice to hear from you.

Mister Obvious • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

Or paid employee or good friend. However, he does make good stuff…

kimberly • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

There’s something to be said for developing shows with creators who want to do TV, rather than creators who deign to do TV while they’re between feature projects.

after spending big on development last season and giving ABC a hit Wednesday comedy night, entertainment boss Steve McPherson now really needs to have a breakout hour-long drama to boast about.

For the past two development seasons new ABC dramas have all tanked (save for last’s season’s slow-but-steady Castle and this season’s declining-but-TBD V/FlashForward). NBC and Leno have been a gift to McPherson. Without that train wreck, we’d all be talking about how his drama slate has failed for two years in a row.

ABC might try developing new voices in television, rather than trying to steal from features. But I doubt that’ll happen.

Yes, ABC does need a good hour-long drama, but won’t be FlashForward, at least not if anyone there is paying any attention at all. That enormous drop in viewership wasn’t an accident — the show was obviously spinning its wheels by the third episode, and never managed to get on track. And as a continuity-heavy series, once you’ve lost the audience, they will NEVER get it back.

It’s a shame, because a lot of talent was packed into that show and it had an interesting premise, but it was pointlessly squandered by glacial pacing and endless yanking of the viewers’ chains. Even if the new showrunner (and really, my sympathies to that poor bastard, whoever it ends up being) actually manages to make the show better, it won’t help ‘em get renewed. Basically, the only way that’ll happen is if some ABC exec decides to overrule everyone else and say “I know the ratings suck, we’re keeping it anyway.” Which would be a sad waste of executive fiat, I think; keeping Better Off Ted would probably pay off if they could find a good timeslot for it, but FlashForward’s always going to sink like a stone no matter where they put it.

Jonathan • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

ABC really messed up when it comes to this show. I started watching because I was psyched by the premis, but it wound up having some of the worst television writing immaginable. There were no real characters, and no clear direction, and I just got bored. It is a case of ABC not trusting the writers, and second guessing everything until it became a jumbled mess. At this point the show is irreperably broken, and they should just dump it. It makes me pretty mad how badly ABC messed up with this one.

gd • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

Great concept…boring execution. In the right hands, this could’ve been a great ongoing series, but I’m thinking it’s a goner.

Anon • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

The show was made by committee. Cancel it now

Black Dynamite • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

This is why you don’t hand a series over to a feature writer with no tv experience running a show.

Michael • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

Yay! A third Batman!

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

The show needs either interesting characters or constant weirdness.

It has neither.

Tivo’d the first 2, didn’t bother with season pass.

cookmeyer1970 • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

I agree with what “irationaliTV” said about FF lacking the character development of Lost– I know that’s why I stopped watching– I just didn’t care, but to solely blame the writers is to completely let off the network execs who overly micromanage these shows and their storylines. Lost was made great in spite of the fact that it was on network TV. Lost’s Season 3 is a perfect example of how a good concept can go bad when the network starts calling the shots on the show’s content (i.e. the Nicky/Paulo storyline which was so opposed by the fans, the creators ultimately killed them off by burying them alive, as if to tell the fans, “ok, we get it,”). Luckily they’d established a loyal enough fanbase who stuck around until they went back to what was great about it.

David Goyer is one of the hardest working, nicest guys in the business. He was smart to get off this sinking ship.

Duplo Lansinoh • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

A good captain always goes down with his ship…

Unless there’s a mutiny or he’s just a coward.

Bon voyage.

Goyer = Ghost Rider Showrunner • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

Rather than simply passing on a writer he was pitched, Goyer personally made time to call this particular writer’s agent and DEMAND to know why he was repped by him — saying he felt the baby writer was no good.

That’s not what a “nice guy” does — that’s what a vindictive, talentless hack does. Nice job, Goyer. Good luck with your “features.”

deering • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

id, cookmeyer, and Jonathan are dead-on. If you don’t get a long-form dramatic series right right out the gate, you might as well throw in the towel. Shows like FF and LOST are a major time investment–and audiences have been so burned by so many wannabees that they will only give a new continuity-heavy show a small episode window to deliver. The minute a show even _looks_ like it’s going to be ridiculously complicated with lame characters, plot jerking-around, and no thought-through endgame, viewers are out. My rule of thumb is: if a show doesn’t have it together by episode three (or isn’t delivering on what it promised in episode one), game over.

deering • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

And, yeah, ABC’s slate has a dismayingly high proportion of glossy, empty, and unnecessary shows complete with characters you don’t give a damm about. Are the network executives’ friends-from-Yale writing these things or what?

John Donne • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

The show was great and then it tanked. I didn’t know what was going on – I will watch in March, hoping it returns to the original vision.

chris • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

Batman is top priority. Get the whole crew back. Buy them some pizzas and make this thing happen. And finally exceed expectations.

The Boer Warrior • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

Robert J. Sawyer, the author behind this silly show, is a hack. Plain and simple.

He is a science geek with no ability to expand his thinking beyond the known. His books and this show stink of it. Every answer in his universe is digital; yes/no. There is a clear solution to every problem and nothing is sticky or weird. This is, unfortunately, the product of a fearful mind unwilling to face the enormously more complex and beautiful nature of reality. The Robert J. Sawyer’s of the world would have been the authors behind every Scooby-Doo episode. It’s NEVER a monster, it’s always the company accountant in a mask. Boooring. (Except unlike the Flashforward cast, Shaggy and Scooby had charisma.)

-Indeed, this kind of limited thinking is, I suspect, the reason behind the shallow characters on this idiotic show. When engineers and people like them try to write, they refuse to allow fuzzy logic into any of their scripting ‘equations’. Thus you get, transparent, dull characters with no life in them. Flashforward is an exercise in frightened, weenie thinking.

By contrast LOST isn’t scared of exploring the inherent weirdness of reality. You don’t even need to tap magic; Hyper-dimensional physics when explored to the full allows for extreme squishiness in reality; time loops, hyper-dimensional beings (aliens), spirits, and even the soul. All of which, if one knows how to explore this stuff, are obviously quite real. That thought terrifies Robert J. Sawyer and his ilk.

Watch “The Mothman Prophecies” (A true story) to get an idea of just how weird (and upsetting) the world really can be.’

Flashforward is an example of how scared people lock out so much reality that they can’t write anything engaging.

James • on Feb 7, 2010 12:37 pm

I’m really surprised by all the negativity here; FlashForward is the only network drama I like these days. I usually stick to HBO and Showtime.

Lost is far more convoluted and has a LOT of unresolved tangents. I don’t think the quality of character development between the two shows is really that different; Lost has the benefit of multiple seasons to flesh out the back stories, while FlashForward has only had a few episodes.

Good cast, great premise, decent execution. Calm down, and let it play it out for a bit.